Chester Theatre presents 8 one-act plays

Jessica Phelan, left, and Roseann Ruggiero rehearse a scene from “Perfectly Compliant.” The absurdist comedy, written by Lauri MacMillan and Dan Jennings, is one of eight one-act plays that make up “Chester’s Own.”(Photo: COURTESY OF LAURI MacMILLAN)

Mark Twain once made a joke to the effect that if you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes and it will change.

Stephen Catron has a similar feeling about “Chester’s Own,” the program that will be presented by Chester Theatre Group on Saturday, Jan. 12, and Sunday, Jan. 13.

“Chester’s Own” consists of eight one-act plays, each no longer than 10 minutes long. The pieces, which range in tone from the dramatic to the absurd, were all written by playwrights and performers who have been associated with Chester Theatre Group.

Catron, who is co-producing the program with Ellen Fraser-Glasscock, pointed out that the wide variety of plays will be able to engage the audience.

"These plays are tightly written,” said Catron, who contributed two of the eight pieces. “You may like one. If you don’t like the next one, it’ll be over in about 10 minutes, and you’ll have the chance to see something different.”

“Chester’s Own” came about through a combination of factors, including an opening on the theater’s schedule. But the main impetus was to give local writers an opportunity to have their work performed.

“I knew we people who write and who pass their plays around,” said Catron. “I know other theaters have one-act play festivals. I thought it would nice for some of our people to have a chance to see their work done.”

Initially, Catron’s idea was to have the plays done as staged readings.

“We’d just do it for friends,” he said. “At first, we weren’t even going to invite an audience; it would just be for us.”

"We started with four plays, and that became five and eventually eight,” he said. “We talked with the board of directors and decided that we could do this for one weekend.”

Besides Catron, the writers whose work will be presented are Jeff Jackson, Chris Mortenson, Rachel Lichter, and the team of Lauri MacMillan and Dan Jennings.

MacMillan said she was grateful for the opportunity to have her play “Perfectly Compliant” be part of the program.

"I haven’t written that much,” she said. “It means a lot to be able to see your work being performed.”

“Perfectly Compliant” is based on MacMillan’s experiences in the human resources department of a company.

"It’s a little absurdist,” she said. “It takes our politically correct world to an extreme.”

Though the playwrights were offered the chance to direct their own plays, MacMillan refused.

“I was interested in seeing what another person would bring to the story,” she said.

For his part, Catron opted to direct the one play of his that was comic.

“I wrote it with a particular sound in my head,” he said. “My other, heavier piece I gave to someone else to direct.”

Catron confessed that producing “Chester’s Own” has become a more substantial undertaking for the theater than he had anticipated.

"I thought this would be a casual thing — no big sets, no fancy lighting,” he said. “But it’s turned out to be a lot of work. We're getting together five directors and a cast of about 15 actors, and that’s hard compared to one director and a cast of four or five.”

Still, Catron said he is pleased with the results.

“I think it’s great that people were willing to take a chance and try something new,” he said. “That’s pretty cool. It’s great to be able to do something just for the fun of it.”

Lauri MacMillan hopes that audiences will be caught up in that spirit.

“I hope people will be entertained,” she said. “If they’re in the mood to be surprised or to see something a little bit different, I hope they’ll consider coming to this show.”

'Chester's Own'

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13

Where: Chester Theatre Group at the Black River Playhouse, corner of Grove and Maple Streets, Chester